Figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Pair skating

Pair skating at the XX Olympic Winter Games
Venue	Palavela Turin, Italy
Dates	11 February 2006 13 February 2006
Competitors	20 pairs from 12 nations
Winning score	204.48
Medalists
Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin   Russia Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao   China Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo   China
←  2002 2010  →

Pair skating was contested during the figure skating events at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

This event is performed by partners consisting of a female and male skater. The competition consists of two segments. A short program is skated first, with eight required elements performed within 2 minutes and 50 seconds. All pairs progress to the free skating, where each pair skates for 4 minutes and 30 seconds. There were 20 pairs who competed at the 2006 Games.

Short program

The pairs' short program was the first figure skating event of the Olympics, and took place on 11 February, with the free skating completed on 13 February. Two-time World Champions and Russians Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin were the pre-tournament favorites to win. ^[1] They were expected to be challenged by two-time World Champions and reigning Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo, but an injury to Zhao initially kept them out of contention for the gold medal. However, the team was able to get back into shape for the Olympics. ^[2]

Totmianina and Marinin took the lead after the short program, with a score of 68.64 points. Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao of China, skating to Led Zeppelin's song Kashmir , ranked second with 64.72 points, followed closely by Maria Petrova / Alexei Tikhonov of Russia with 64.27 points. Close behind were two other Chinese pairs, Pang Qing / Tong Jian (63.19 points) and Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo (62.32 points). ^[3] Americans Rena Inoue / John Baldwin made history in the short program by landing the first throw triple Axel in Olympic competition, putting them in sixth place. ^[4]

Free skating

In free skating, Totmianina / Marinin were described by NBC as "untouchable", ^[5] and the pair scored a personal best 135.84 points in this segment for a combined score of 204.48. Their victory was described as "a rout" ^[5] The pair had suffered a setback in 2004 when Marinin dropped Totmianina during a lift, putting her in the hospital with a concussion.

The Chinese pair of Zhang / Zhang were the last to take the ice on the night of the free skating. ^[6] In trying to surpass the Russian pair, Zhang / Zhang attempted a throw quadruple salchow jump, never before completed successfully in competition. However, Zhang Dan fell on this element and suffered a painful injury to her knee. Since she was temporarily unable to continue, the music was stopped by the event referee. Upon the trainer's approval for Zhang Dan to continue, the couple continued their routine, skating with minor errors for the remaining four minutes. ^[7] NBC reported that the entire crowd gave the pair a standing ovation and showed shots of their fellow competitors, including Totmianiana / Marinin, also standing. ^[8] Finishing second in both parts of the competition, Zhang / Zhang received silver medals with an overall score of 189.73 points.

Their countrymen, Shen / Zhao, who were in fifth place after the short program, pulled up two places in the free skating to take the bronze medals, as they did at Salt Lake City four years earlier, with a total score of 186.91. They edged the third Chinese couple, Pang Qing / Tong Jian out of the podium by just 0.24 points.

Petrova / Tikhonov, who were in third place after the short program, dropped to fifth place overall. Germans Aljona Sawtschenko / Robin Szolkowy, who were in seventh after the short, scored the fifth best total of the free skating competition to go up on spot. Inoue / Baldwin were unable to complete their throw triple Axel in the long and dropped to seventh overall.

While Totmianina / Marinin extended the streak of gold medals in pairs for Russia and former Soviet Union to 12 consecutive Olympics, dating back to 1964, the silver medals for Zhang / Zhang are China's best ever achievement in Olympic figure skating. Up until this point, China had three bronze medals in figure skating: two from China's Chen Lu and one from Shen / Zhao.

Results

Short program

Pl.	Lady's name	Man's name	Nation	TSS	TES	PCS	SS	TR	PE	CH	IN	Deduction	StN
1	Tatiana Totmianina	Maxim Marinin	Russia	68.64	35.93	32.71	8.21	8.00	8.29	8.14	8.25	0	#19
2	Zhang Dan	Zhang Hao	China	64.72	35.21	29.51	7.57	7.25	7.43	7.39	7.25	0	#11
3	Maria Petrova	Alexei Tikhonov	Russia	64.27	33.71	30.56	7.75	7.39	7.75	7.64	7.68	0	#14
4	Pang Qing	Tong Jian	China	63.19	34.09	29.10	7.32	7.11	7.32	7.32	7.29	0	#5
5	Shen Xue	Zhao Hongbo	China	62.32	30.86	31.46	7.93	7.75	7.86	7.86	7.93	0	#6
6	Rena Inoue	John Baldwin	United States	61.27	35.53	25.74	6.54	6.25	6.46	6.46	6.46	0	#4
7	Aliona Savchenko	Robin Szolkowy	Germany	60.96	31.78	29.18	7.29	7.18	7.36	7.32	7.32	0	#20
8	Julia Obertas	Sergei Slavnov	Russia	60.25	32.78	27.47	6.96	6.71	6.89	6.89	6.89	0	#18
9	Dorota Zagorska	Mariusz Siudek	Poland	56.10	29.79	26.31	6.71	6.43	6.54	6.57	6.64	0	#15
10	Valerie Marcoux	Craig Buntin	Canada	55.62	29.88	25.74	6.50	6.32	6.46	6.39	6.50	0	#17
11	Jessica Dube	Bryce Davison	Canada	55.48	31.06	24.42	6.07	5.89	6.29	6.14	6.14	0	#16
12	Tatiana Volosozhar	Stanislav Morozov	Ukraine	50.14	28.05	23.09	5.93	5.61	5.75	5.86	5.71	1	#2
13	Marcy Hinzmann	Aaron Parchem	United States	49.58	26.75	23.83	6.04	5.82	5.96	5.96	6.00	1	#10
14	Marylin Pla	Yannick Bonheur	France	44.24	24.35	20.89	5.36	5.07	5.21	5.32	5.14	1	#8
15	Marina Aganina	Artem Knyazev	Uzbekistan	44.02	26.92	17.10	4.36	4.11	4.29	4.36	4.25	0	#1
16	Eva-Maria Fitze	Rico Rex	Germany	43.86	23.74	20.12	5.07	4.89	5.07	5.04	5.07	0	#13
17	Julia Beloglazova	Andrei Bekh	Ukraine	43.85	25.62	18.23	4.79	4.46	4.50	4.61	4.43	0	#9
18	Diana Rennik	Aleksei Saks	Estonia	39.72	22.57	17.15	4.43	4.11	4.32	4.32	4.25	0	#12
19	Rumiana Spassova	Stanimir Todorov	Bulgaria	37.27	20.65	17.62	4.43	4.14	4.43	4.54	4.50	1	#3
20	Phyo Yong-myong	Jong Yong-hyok	North Korea	33.63	18.60	15.03	3.82	3.64	3.82	3.75	3.75	0	#7

Free skating

Pl.	Lady's name	Man's name	Nation	TSS	TES	PCS	SS	TR	PE	CH	IN	Deduction	StN
1	Tatiana Totmianina	Maxim Marinin	Russia	135.84	69.51	66.33	8.32	8.14	8.39	8.25	8.36	0	#19
2	Zhang Dan	Zhang Hao	China	125.01	66.19	59.82	7.64	7.36	7.46	7.54	7.39	1	#20
3	Shen Xue	Zhao Hongbo	China	124.59	62.24	62.35	7.71	7.71	7.82	7.86	7.86	0	#14
4	Pang Qing	Tong Jian	China	123.48	62.78	60.70	7.61	7.43	7.71	7.57	7.61	0	#18
5	Aliona Savchenko	Robin Szolkowy	Germany	119.19	60.21	58.98	7.36	7.32	7.39	7.43	7.36	0	#15
6	Maria Petrova	Alexei Tikhonov	Russia	117.42	57.00	60.42	7.57	7.43	7.61	7.61	7.54	0	#17
7	Rena Inoue	John Baldwin	United States	113.74	60.27	54.47	6.96	6.61	6.86	6.79	6.82	1	#16
8	Dorota Zagorska	Mariusz Siudek	Poland	109.85	58.14	51.71	6.64	6.36	6.50	6.43	6.39	0	#11
9	Julia Obertas	Sergei Slavnov	Russia	106.29	54.37	52.92	6.71	6.57	6.61	6.68	6.50	1	#13
10	Jessica Dube	Bryce Davison	Canada	104.23	54.99	49.24	6.21	6.04	6.14	6.25	6.14	0	#12
11	Valerie Marcoux	Craig Buntin	Canada	102.59	52.82	50.77	6.36	6.18	6.46	6.36	6.36	1	#10
12	Tatiana Volosozhar	Stanislav Morozov	Ukraine	98.24	52.55	46.69	5.93	5.68	5.89	5.93	5.75	1	#9
13	Marcy Hinzmann	Aaron Parchem	United States	97.47	52.28	45.19	5.79	5.50	5.68	5.64	5.64	0	#7
14	Marylin Pla	Yannick Bonheur	France	88.60	48.14	40.46	5.21	4.86	5.14	5.11	4.96	0	#5
15	Diana Rennik	Aleksei Saks	Estonia	78.41	45.44	32.97	4.29	3.89	4.18	4.21	4.04	0	#3
16	Eva-Maria Fitze	Rico Rex	Germany	76.37	38.88	39.49	5.04	4.82	4.93	4.96	4.93	2	#8
17	Marina Aganina	Artem Knyazev	Uzbekistan	75.53	42.07	34.46	4.50	4.18	4.29	4.39	4.18	1	#6
18	Rumiana Spassova	Stanimir Todorov	Bulgaria	73.98	40.16	33.82	4.32	4.07	4.25	4.29	4.21	0	#1
19	Julia Beloglazova	Andrei Bekh	Ukraine	71.77	37.80	34.97	4.54	4.25	4.36	4.39	4.32	1	#4

Final standings

Rank	Name	Nation	Total points	SP		FS
1	Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin	Russia	204.48	1	68.64	1	135.84
2	Zhang Dan / Zhang Hao	China	189.73	2	64.72	2	125.01
3	Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo	China	186.91	5	62.32	3	124.59
4	Pang Qing / Tong Jian	China	186.67	4	63.19	4	123.48
5	Maria Petrova / Alexei Tikhonov	Russia	181.69	3	64.27	6	117.42
6	Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy	Germany	180.15	7	60.96	5	119.19
7	Rena Inoue / John Baldwin	United States	175.01	6	61.27	7	113.74
8	Julia Obertas / Sergei Slavnov	Russia	166.54	8	60.25	9	106.29
9	Dorota Zagórska / Mariusz Siudek	Poland	165.95	9	56.10	8	109.85
10	Jessica Dubé / Bryce Davison	Canada	159.71	11	55.48	10	104.23
11	Valérie Marcoux / Craig Buntin	Canada	158.21	10	55.62	11	102.59
12	Tatiana Volosozhar / Stanislav Morozov	Ukraine	148.38	12	50.14	12	98.24
13	Marcy Hinzmann / Aaron Parchem	United States	147.05	13	49.58	13	97.47
14	Marylin Pla / Yannick Bonheur	France	132.84	14	44.24	14	88.60
15	Eva-Maria Fitze / Rico Rex	Germany	120.23	16	43.86	16	76.37
16	Marina Aganina / Artem Knyazev	Uzbekistan	119.55	15	44.02	17	75.53
17	Diana Rennik / Aleksei Saks	Estonia	118.13	18	39.72	15	78.41
18	Julia Beloglazova / Andrei Bekh	Ukraine	115.62	17	43.85	19	71.77
19	Rumiana Spassova / Stanimir Todorov	Bulgaria	111.25	19	37.27	18	73.98
WD	Phyo Yong-myong / Jong Yong-hyok	North Korea		20	33.63

• WD = Withdrawn

Referee:

• Hely Abbondati

Technical Controller:

• Junko Hiramatsu

Technical Specialist:

• David Kirby

Assistant Technical Specialist:

• David Moellenkamp

Judges:

• Adriana Domanska
• Zoia Yordanova
• Marina Sanaya
• Reinhard Mirmseker
• Igor Fedchenko
• Pierre de Lacroix
• Evgeni Rokhin
• Anna Sierocka
• Kristina Houwing
• William Smith
• William Thompson
• Wang Yumin

References

1. Russian pairs favorites ready to compete, from Reuters, retrieved 15 February 2006
2. China's Zhao back beaming after injury, from Reuters, retrieved 12 February 2006
3. Pairs Figure Skating – Pairs Short Program Archived 7 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine , from torino2006.org, retrieved 15 February 2006
4. U.S. pair does first Olympic 'throw triple Axel', from Associated Press, retrieved 15 February 2006
5. Written at Turin, Italy. "Russian roll continues in a rout". New York City: Associated Press. Archived from the original on 3 March 2006. Retrieved 15 February 2006– via NBC Olympics.
6. Chinese skater delivers gutsy performance, from Reuters, retrieved 15 February 2006
7. Knapp, Gwen (14 February 2006). "Courageous Chinese pair's fall had a silver lining". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
8. TURIN 2006: NBC deserves gold for capturing Olympic drama, from The London Free Press

External links

• Final Results
• Pairs Protocol